Cardiff Canton TMD is a diesel locomotive Traction Maintenance Depot

Traction maintenance depot

In the United Kingdom, a traction maintenance depot, or TMD, is a railway depot where locomotives are serviced and maintained. A traction and rolling stock maintenance depot, or T&RSMD, is a maintenance depot where locomotives, multiple units and rolling stock are serviced and maintained. Each rail...

 which is situated in Cardiff

Cardiff

Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...

, Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. The depot code is CF. In steam days the depot was known as Cardiff Canton and its shed code was 86C. Originally built as the main maintenance base for the South Wales Railway

South Wales Railway

The South Wales Railway was a broad gauge railway that linked the Gloucester and Dean Forest Railway with Neyland in Wales.-History:The need for the railway was created by the need to ship coal from the South Wales Valleys to London, and secondly to complete Brunel's vision of linking London with...

, it became the major Welsh engineering base for the Great Western Railway

Great Western Railway

The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...

. A heavy overhaul base for British Railways, it then became a joint EWS/Arriva Trains Wales

Arriva Trains Wales

Arriva Trains Wales is a train operating company, owned by Arriva, that operates urban and inter urban passenger services in Wales and the Welsh Marches...

 depot. After shut down of the EWS depot as a maintenance centre from 10 December 2005(still used for long term storage and occasional stabling), it is now solely operated by Arriva Trains Wales.

Steam

Cardiff Canton opened in June 1882 as a six road, 240 feet (73.2 m) long shed was built to replace Long Dyke, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east of Cardiff General station. The facility was extended in 1897 when a 55 ft (16.8 m) diameter turntable was installed in a square building with 28 roads radiating of off the turntable. In 1925 a locomotive repair and lifting shed was built together with a new coaling stage by the GWR. In 1931 the original 55 ft (16.8 m). turntable was removed and replaced by a larger 65 ft (19.8 m). diameter table at the west end of the yard. At this time, around the peak of GWR operation, the depot had allocated 50 main line passenger locomotives, 40 heavy goods/mineral locomotives and 30 smaller local passenger/goods and shunting locomotives. The depot closed to steam traction on 8 September 1962.

Diesel

During the winter of 1962/1963, Kyle Stewart contracted to British Rail

British Rail

British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...

 built a new £1,324,000 complex which occupied a 30 acres (121,405.8 m²) site. The original allocation was 360 locomotives for major maintenance, 197 for normal maintenance and 62 shunting locomotives. Employed were 40 managerial and supervisory staff, 31 clerical staff, 382 maintenance staff and 55 unskilled staff. The new depot was opened by The Rt. Hon. Lord Brecon

David Lewis, 1st Baron Brecon

David Vivian Penrose Lewis, 1st Baron Brecon PC was a Welsh businessman and Conservative politician.-Background and education:...

 (Minister of State for Welsh Affairs) on 18 September 1964.

Allocation

• Class 08(Pullman rail)
• Class 37
  British Rail Class 37
  The British Rail Class 37 is a diesel-electric locomotive. Also known as the English Electric Type 3, the Class was ordered as part of the British Rail modernisation plan....
  
   - stored by EWS
• Class 142
  British Rail Class 142
  The British Rail Class 142 is a class of Pacer diesel multiple units used in the United Kingdom. 96 units were built by BREL in Derby between 1985 and 1987. They were a development of the earlier Class 141 which were introduced in 1984....
  
  
• Class 143
  British Rail Class 143
  The British Rail Class 143 is a diesel multiple unit, part of the Pacer family of trains introduced between 1985 and 1986. They originally worked in the North-East of England but were later transferred to Wales and South-West England....
  
  
• Class 150
  British Rail Class 150
  The British Rail Class 150 "Sprinter" diesel multiple units were built by BREL from 1984-87. A total of 137 units were built in three main subclasses, replacing many of the earlier first-generation "Heritage" DMUs.- Background :...
  
  
• Class 153
  British Rail Class 153
  The British Rail Class 153 Super Sprinter is a single car diesel multiple unit converted from British Rail Class 155s.-Description:These units were originally built as two-car Class 155 units by British Leyland from 1987–88, but were converted by Hunslet-Barclay at Kilmarnock from 1991-92...
  
  
• Class 158
  British Rail Class 158
  British Rail Class 158 Express Sprinter is a diesel multiple-unit train, built for British Rail between 1989 and 1992 by BREL at its Derby Works. They were built to replace many locomotive-hauled passenger trains, and allowed cascading of existing Sprinter units to replace elderly 'heritage' DMUs...
  
  
• Class 57
  British Rail Class 57
  The Class 57 diesel locomotives were introduced by Brush Traction between 1997-2004. They are rebuilds, with reconditioned EMD engines, of former Class 47 locomotives, originally introduced in 1964-5.- Description :...